Trump maxes human endangerment with greenhouse gas ruling rollback - 48 hills

"You've no doubt already heard that on February 12 the Trump administration officially revoked the EPA's "endangerment finding," the regulatory ruling that declared climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions to be a threat to public health and welfare. The decision has rightly been denounced by all the usual suspects, but it's worth taking a minute to ponder how truly bonkers this latest Trump move is."

"Bay Area readers don't need to be reminded of California's recent wave of record wildfire seasons, spreading death and destruction from Paradise to Malibu and Altadena, among other places. But fires don't just kill directly. They dump massive amounts of fine particle pollution into the air, pollution recently estimated to cause over 24,000 deaths a year in the 48 contiguous states. Those deaths don't come all at once, because lung damage caused by particulates is slow and insidious, but dead is dead."

"But it goes beyond particle pollution. Wildfire smoke contains all sorts of toxic chemicals. Some of these come from the various types of pollutants that get absorbed by trees and brush that burn. Others come from the assorted plastics, electronics and other stuff that goes up in smoke when thousands of homes and businesses burn. None of this is good for you. Newborns, pregnant individuals, older adults and people dealing with chronic disease are especially vulnerable to the effects of all these types of pollution."

On February 12 the Trump administration revoked the EPA's "endangerment finding" that classified greenhouse-gas emissions as a threat to public health and welfare. Health considerations were central to the original finding. Climate change has already caused fatalities in California and worldwide through intensified hazards such as record wildfire seasons. Wildfires emit fine particulate pollution estimated to cause over 24,000 deaths annually in the contiguous United States and produce toxic chemicals from burned vegetation and consumer materials. Particulate-induced lung damage accumulates slowly. Newborns, pregnant individuals, older adults, and people with chronic disease face heightened vulnerability to these pollutants.

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